Ngmoco reports up to 90 percent iPhone piracy

At GDC China, ngmoco’s VP Alan Yu told listeners that the company’s games’ total downloads were made up of between 50 percent and 90 percent illegal copies during the first week of release.

It’s a depressing statistic that demonstrates quite how many iPhones and iPod Touches have been jailbroken with nefarious intent.

However, it’s also worth noting that the fall-off rate in pirated downloads is likely more severe than that of legitimate purchasers – once a game is hacked, crowds of illegal download scenesters will jump on it.

Yu sees micro-transactions as a way forwards for the App Store, and it makes sense considering that such things should prove much harder to hack.

We’re starting to see micro-transactions proliferate through some high-profiles releases too, albeit in games where the tactic is an obvious choice: Tap Tap Revenge 3 and Rock Band will both feature online stores, from which you’ll be able to buy additional songs.